In what is surely the most on again, off again rumor circulating the IT world, the long-awaited Google phone is nearly ready for public consumption.
Scratch that, I mean the new Google Mobile OS platform is nearly ready for public consumption. Well, to be honest, nothing has actually been confirmed, but it looks like we are getting closer to the truth.
 GPhone might soon be a reality (photo: http://www.mobime.ru) |
According to a recent
report on Engadget, Google's mobile device platform is well on its way, and will be announced in the very near future.' According to the report Google purchased a small start-up called Android in 2005, started by Andy Rubin, co-founder of the Danger (who make the Hiptop and Sidekick devices) and has been working on a Linux based mobile OS - in a similar vein to Windows Mobile. Google writes the software, hardware partners build the devices.
Wired also
think the GPhone myth is alive. They speculate that the GPhone is a device that 'runs a modified version of the Linux kernel and has GPS built in', and will have tight integration with existing Google apps like Maps, Calendar and Docs and Spreadsheets. The article also notes that the device is less of a threat to devices like the newly-released iPhone and more targeted at the '$100 laptop' made be the OLPC project, and will be partly subsidised by ad revenue from targeted ads served to the phone.
It's interesting to contemplate a GPhone type device. While Google are great at doing targeted advertising and search some of their latest web offerings, while useful, are still very much in their infancy. Most of them have sparse utilitarian interfaces which, while suitable for the web are dissimilar to the rich UI's consumers now come to expect in their mobile devices. It remains to be seen whether Google can truly add value in this space, or whether they should continue partnering with OS manufacturers to better integrate their services into existing platforms.
What do you think? Would you buy a GPhone?